superman: the silver age newspaper dailies, vol. 1: 1958 - 1961 preview

7/27/2019 Superman: The Silver Age Newspaper Dailies, Vol. 1: 1958 - 1961 Preview

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SUPERMANThe Silver Age DailiesSuperman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster


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IDW PUBLISHING

San Diego

SUPERMANThe Silver Age DailiesVOLUME ONE 1959-1961


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SUPERMAN: THE SILVERAGE DAILIES

VOLUME ONE: 19591961

SCRIPTS BYJERRYSIEGEL BASED ON THE ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK STORIES

BYROBERT BERNSTEIN, OTTO BINDER, JERRYCOLEMAN, ANDJERRYSIEGEL

ARTWORK BYCURT SWAN, STAN KAYE, ANDWAYNE BORING LETTERING BYIRASCHNAPP

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family

THE LIBRARY OFAMERICAN COMICSEDITED AND DESIGNED BYDean Mullaney ART DIRECTORLorraine Turner

ASSOCIATE EDITORBruce Canwell INTRODUCTION Sidney Friedfertig

FOREWORD Tom De Haven COVERS Pete Poplaski MARKETING DIRECTORBeau Smith

STRIP RESTORATION BYJoseph Ketels, Lorraine Turner, Dale Crain, Digikore Studios, and Dean Mullaney

IDW Publishing, a Division of Idea and Design Works, LLC5080 Santa Fe Street, San Diego, CA 92109www.idwpublishing.com LibraryofAmericanComics.com

Ted Adams, Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer/PresidentRobbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief

Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer Alan Payne, VP of SalesDirk Wood, VP of Marketing Lorelei Bunjes, VP of Digital Services

ISBN: 978-1-61377-666-7 First Printing, July 2013

Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors 1-410-560-7100

Special thanks to Sid Friedfertig, who eagerly loaned his collection of clipped strips that is the primary source for this volume.

He would like to dedicate this book

To my late wife Randy, who abided a grown man with a boys obsession and whogave me our children, David and Hannah, in whose eyes I am able to savor this moment.

We are also indebted to the following for their help, advice, and research:

Paul Levitz, Roy Thomas, Greg Goldstein, John Wells, Mike Tiefenbacher, Mark Waid,

Jared Bond, Martin OHearn, Eddy Zeno, Harry Matetsky, Gordon Bailey, Ricardo Nandin,

Todd Klein, Al Plastino, Frank Giella, Scott Dunbier, Justin Eisinger, and Alonzo Simon.

LibraryofAmericanComics.com

Superman and 2013 DC Comics, Inc. All rights reserved. The Library of American Comics is a trademark of The Library of American ComicsLLC. All rights reserved. Preface 2013 Tom De Haven. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the comic strips in thispublication may be reprinted without the permission of DC Comics, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and retrieval system, without permission in writing from DCComics, Inc. Printed in Korea.

OTHERBOOKS INTHE LIBRARY OF

AMERICAN COMICS


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Forewordby TOM DE HAVEN

After reading everything I could find about Superman; after plowing through hundreds and hundreds ofSuperman comic

books; after watching all of the theatrical and Saturday morning cartoons, the Columbia movie serials, the television series, thefeature filmsafter nearly ten consecutive years of doing research so that I could write, credibly write, two books about him,

the first a novel, the second a long essay, youd think by now, surely by now, Id be sick to death of the Man of Steel, but no.

Not at all. Not even close. I still have the warmest affection for Big Blue, both as a character and as a meaningful icon, as well

as an abiding interest in the writers and artists whove kept him vital and true to the vision, if not the version, that Jerry Siegel

and Joe Shuster dreamed up in Cleveland during the Great Depression.

Having spent so much time with Superman, naturally I have favorite iterations. I cherish the original, of course, the feisty

proletarian Superman, and I love the antic, multi-tasking Superman from those glorious Max and Dave Fleischer Technicolor

cartoons. I also admire John Byrnes and Jerry Ordways Solid Citizen Superman (and yuppie Clark Kent) from the late 1980s,

and Im mighty partial to the sweet-natured big galoot Superman in Jeph Loebs and Tim Sales 1998 graphic novel A Supe rman

For All Seasons.

But of all the many, many different incarnations of Superman begot over the past seventy-five years, the one I feel themostaffection for is the Silver Age Superman of 1950s and 60s comic books, the demigod-workhorse who could reignite

dead suns with his heat vision, crash the time barrier without breaking a sweat, speed-read the entire holdings of the Library

of Congress in a split second, and deftly plug a spewing volcano with an inverted mountain top, but who was never, not ever ,

above performing a super-juggling act free of charge at the Metropolis Orphanage; the Superman who liked to just hang out

by himself in his souvenir-cluttered arctic Fortress of Solitude, who gave a really cool signal watch to his good pal Jimmy

Olsen, and who cleverly (and yes, I admit it, a bit smugly) thwarted his girlfriend Lois Lane every single time she was dead

certain shed discovered his secret identitythe very same Superman who appears in this long overdue compilation of

newspaper comic strips from 1959, 60 and 61. In fact, nearly all of the stories reprinted here were adapted from adventures

that had first appeared in DC comic books.

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If youre as familiar with the originals as I am, it can be startling to read the newspaper versions. Its not only that the stories are

longer and entirely redrawn, with fewer captions and more expository dialogue, but the narrative rhythms are completely different.A daily installment from this period of continuity strips consisted, by and large, of three identically-sized panels: the first one had to

recap the story, the second had to advance it, at least a tiny bit, and the last had to contain a plot hook or a cliffhanger. It was tricky

and demanding work, work that Jerry Siegeladapting eight- and twelve-page comic book scenarios by Otto Binder, Jerry Coleman,

Robert Bernstein, as well as some that hed previously written himselfhad the chops and the craft to do masterfully. He was (its

good to be reminded) a real pro, and so were Siegels two alternating collaborators, the quintessential Silver Age Superman artists

Wayne Boring and Curt Swan (with Swans pencils elegantly inked by the great Stan Kaye).

When these particular Superman strips were appearing Monday through Saturday on the comics page, in other parts of the daily

paper you wouldve found news stories about Freedom Riders and race riots; stories about the first oral contraceptive and the first

man in space; about the sad death of Billie Holiday and the shocking divorce of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz; you wouldve read, too,

about payola and quiz-show scandals, and Hawaiis admission into the union as our 50th state. You wouldve read about a new show

called The Twilight Zonepremiering on television, about The Sound of Music premiering on Broadway, and about two AlfredHitchcock filmsNorth by Northwestand Psychopremiering at the movies. In the New Books section (remember that?) youdve

seen, and possibly read, reviews ofFranny and Zooey, To Kill a Mockingbird, and the scandalous Lolita.

During the long and poignant story in this volume about Supermans return to Krypton, the American spy-plane pilot Francis

Gary Powers was put on trial in Moscow for espionage, boxer Cassius Clay won his first professional bout in Louisville, Kentucky,

Martin Luther King was sentenced to prison for participating in an Atlanta lunch counter sit-in, and Nikita Khrushchev disrupted

a meeting of the UN General Assembly by taking off his shoe and boorishly whacking it on his desk; and on the very same day

(November 8, 1960) Kal-El blasts off from Krypton in a rocket ship, John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States.

(You wouldve readabout that, however, on November 9, the day when the abandoned, heartbroken and doomed Lyra Lerrol senses

the stark unbearable truth that shell never see her beloved fianc ever again.)

But what was happening in the real world and being reported in the news sections of the daily paper never bled into the

Superman comic strip (unless you count the story about his being pursued by a zealous IRS agent for nonpayment of income taxes).Unlike Steve Canyon and Buz Sawyer, Dick Tracyand Little Orphan Annie, On Stage, The Heart of Juliet Jones,Judge Parker, and

Rex Morgan, contemporaneous story strips that very well might have been neighbors on the comics page, the Superman strip was,

insistentlywas, pure fantasy, sheer escapism: wholesome and lighthearted. Andto use a final adjective that my slang dictionary tells

me came into general use just around the time of the earliest stories collected here, an adjective meaning eccentric and outlandish,

but applied in fond amusementthese Silver Age Superman strips were...kooky. Deliriously, preposterously kooky. And delightful.

Have fun.

Tom De Haven is the author of the no velIts Superman!, the non-fiction bookOur Hero: Superman on Earth, as well as the renownedDerby Dugantrilog y. He is profess or in the department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and has twice be en awarded fellowships from the NationalEndowment for the Arts.


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EPISODE 107

Earths Super-IdiotJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

A largely original story with a humorous interludeborrowed from The Trio of Steel by Siegel, drawnby Al Plastino in Superman #135 (February 1960).

EPISODE 108

The Ugly SupermanJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

Adapted from a story by Robert Bernstein, drawn

by Kurt Schaffenberger in Lois Lane#8 (April 1959).

EPISODE 109

The Super-Clown of MetropolisJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Plastinoin Superman #136 (April 1960).

EPISODE 110

Captive of the AmazonsJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Wayne Boringand Stan Kaye inActio n Co mics #266 (July 1960) andcombined with an adaptation of When Superman LostHis Powers by Bernstein, drawn by Boring and Kaye inActio n Co mics #262 (March 1960).

EPISODE 111

The Superman of the FutureJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

Adapted from a story by Otto Binder, drawn byCurt Swan and Stan Kaye inActio n Co mics #256

(September 1959).

EPISODE 112

The Cry-Baby of MetropolisJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

Adapted from a story by Bernstein, drawn bySchaffenberger in Lois Lane#10 (July 1959).

EPISODE 113

The Super-Servant of CrimeJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

Adapted from a story by Bernstein, drawnby Swan in Superman #130 (July 1959).

EPISODE 114

The Super-SwordJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

Adapted from a story by Jerry Coleman, drawnby Plastino in Superman #124 (September 1958).

EPISODE 115

Supermans Return to KryptonJerry Siegel, Curt Swan/Stan Kaye

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Boring

and Kaye in Superman #141 (November 1960).

EPISODE 116

The Lady and the LionJerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Binder, drawn by Boringand Kaye inActio n Co mics #243 (August 1958).

EPISODE 117

The Great Superman HoaxJerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Bernstein, drawn by Boringand Kaye in Superman #143 (February 1961).

EPISODE 118

The Duel for EarthJerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by George PappinAdventure Com ics#277 (October 1960).

EPISODE 119

Supermans Billion-Dollar DebtJerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Binder, drawn by Boringand Kaye in Superman #114 (July 1957).

EPISODE 120

The Great MentoJerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Bernstein, drawn by Plastinoin Superman #147 (August 1961).

EPISODE 121

The Perfect HusbandJerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

(with a short sequence by Curt Swan)

Adapted from a story by Bernstein, drawn bySchaffenberger in Lois Lane#24 (April 1961).

EPISODE 122

The Mad Woman of MetropolisJerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Bernstein, drawn bySchaffenberger in Lois Lane#26 (July 1961).

CONTENTS


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BOTH PAGES: Coversdrawn by Curt Swanand Stan Kaye to theoriginal comic boo kversions of som e of

the stories in thisvolume.


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In the early 1960s, long before comics specialty stores existed, comic books were delivered to

newsstands and drug stores twice every week. Like most boys, my friends and I would race into our

neighborhood candy store to plead with the too-busy-to-bother owner to come from around the counter

to cut the wire-bound bundles holding the latest issue ofAction Co mics,Adventure Comics, or Superboy.

We would push and shove each other to get the first look at the covers to the stories we were about to

read and enjoy, swap and discuss, and ultimately fight about. What we didnt know was that many of

those covers were in fact approved by other young boys before any of us ever laid eyes on them.

During the Silver Age of comics the Superman titles were under the editorship of Mort Weisinger,

who had taken over from Whitney Ellsworth when the senior editor moved to California to story edit

The Adventures of Superman TV series. By all accounts Weisinger was a tough taskmaster, albeit a

successful one. One secret to his success, he claimed, was that he would bring home proposed Superman

covers and show them to kids on his block. These kids chose wisely.

Often that cover was drawn by Curt Swan. Like Weisinger, Swan had been associated with the

character since the 1940s, first drawing the hero in Superman #51 (1948). By the time baby boomers

grew into readers Swans rendition of the Man of Steels open, friendly face and lithe muscular body

had become the definitive depiction. When my friends and I saw Swans Superman soaring overMetropolis, we believed that a man could fly.

Many times, though, despite the comic having a Curt Swan cover, the story inside was drawn by

another DC artist. Swans primary assignment at the time (from June 18, 1956 to November 12, 1960)

was penciling the dailySuperman newspaper strip. It was a plum job. A nationally syndicated strip

reached far more readers than any comic book, even Superman at its peak circulation; it also brought

more prestige among the many newspaper strip cartoonists who, like Swan, called southwestern

Connecticut their home. Its likely that the strip also paid better than comic books.

The strip was a wise use of Swans talents. Most of the newspaper episodes had about twice as many

panels as a comic book story, allowing the artist a broader canvas in which to insert more nuance and

create additional drama.

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Introductionby SIDNEYFRIEDFERTIG


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All of this, however, was happening outside the purview of young comic

book readers, including my friends and me. Too young at the time to knowabout that daily dose of Swans art, it probably would not have mattered.

Waiting a whole nother day to read a fragment of a black-and-white story

was not something most seven year olds would consider. No, for us, all in color

for a dime was required.

The Superman newspaper strip had a long history. Following the

immediate success ofAction Co mics #1, the strip premiered on January 16,

1939, predatingSuperman #1 by several months. It was published

continuously until 1966. That year, in addition to the strip folding after a

twenty-six-year run, aSuperman musical opened and closed on Broadway

after only one hundred twenty-nine performances, while Batmanthanks to

a number-one-rated TV show and the resultant Batmania crazesucceeded

in doing what was only possible before in imaginary tales, eclipsing Superman

as the best known superhero in the country.

The newspaper strip became an almost forgotten footnote in the Man

of Steels history.

Flash forward a couple of decades. Every so often at comic book

conventions, I would find some yellowing newspaper clippings ofSuperman

stories drawn by Curt Swan that I had never seen before. I thought I knewthem all! When I was able to complete an episode and read the entire story,

I discovered to my surprise that it had the same title as one in comic books

from the 1960s but the story was not quite the same. Here, finally, were the

stories that went with those Curt Swan comic book covers! I took on the task

of tracking down every one of these strips.

In the late 1990s the first few years of 1939-1942 dailies and Sundays

by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and their studio were reprinted, but that left

more than twenty years of stories featuring one of popular cultures most

beloved characters unseen after their initial appearance.

Most comic books and strips of any note have at one time or another

been reprinted and repackagedcover compilations, best of collections, first

and second and third appearances have been rebound and retold and resold,to be seen, read, and enjoyed by a new generation of readers. This made the

lack ofSuperman newspaper strip reprints all the more mysterious. Why this

gaping hole in the pantheon of comics reprints? When approached about this,

Paul Levitz, the long-time DC Comics publisher, confirmed what I already

suspectedDC did not have the strips.

In this era of deep archiving, much of what is seen, said, and done is a

click away from being recorded and forever retrievable. When these strips were

created, however, photostatting was expensive and making a photocopy was a

messy, laborious process. Until the 1960s comic art was routinely disposed of

after use, and the strips were no exception. Countless pages were discarded

while others were given out freely to fans. Nothing illustrates this better than

the so-called Superman half strips. Many years ago, a young artist working

at DC (who would remain with DC for decades and go on to draw both

Superman and Batman) spotted a stack of 1942 daily strips neatly torn in half

in a trash bin. He rescued them and they remain some of the few surviving

original art examples from the period. That an archival record of the Superman

newspaper episodes was not established was less the result of a decision by

management than a sign of the times.

For most of the 1950s Supermans newspaper strip adventures were

written by Alvin Schwartz. When Mort Weisinger assumed control, he and

Schwartz could not see eye to eye. Schwartz quit and Weisinger turned to none

other than Jerry Siegel, Supermans co-creator, to write the series. With the

exception of the largely original story, Earths Super Idiotwhich introduces

an interplanetary producer and screenwriter visiting Earth to film Superman

for a Realie, a reality show on their worldSiegel adapted comic book scripts

by Otto Binder, Robert Bernstein, Jerry Coleman, as well as several of his own,

including the classic "Supermans Return to Krypton!" Some adaptations were

published long after the original comic books, while others appeared in

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Episode #107

EarthsSuper-IdiotStrips #6339-6422

April 6-8, 1959 13


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April 13-15, 1959

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April 16-18, 1959

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April 20-22, 1959

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April 23-25, 1959

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superman: the silver age newspaper dailies, vol. 1: 1958 - 1961 preview

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